The New Big Sky Conference

[CatBlitz22]

This thread is too long. Can someone sum it up for me?

[uofmman1122]

This thread is too long. Can someone sum it up for me?

"Why the fuck did we invite North Dakota/The Big Sky scheduling is going to be a nightmare/California Schools WILL have football/California Schools WON'T have football"

That's pretty much it.

[Screamin_Eagle174]

This thread is too long. Can someone sum it up for me?

"Why the fuck did we invite North Dakota/The Big Sky scheduling is going to be a nightmare/California Schools WILL have football/California Schools WON'T have football"

That's pretty much it.

[Thundering Herd]

Seems to me adding a new Ca. School would lock the Montana Schools into yet another series of trips to the west coast. Those are games they could fill with schools a lot closer and save a ton of money.

LA is closer (and easier to get to) than Fargo.

LA is closer to where? Fargo is 300 miles closer to Missoula than LA is. If you're talking about the rest of the conference, it's not even close (except for UNC).

[SDHornet]

I'll spare you the trouble....no public university in CA is starting a football program. The end.

I am sure you are right, but in last few months I have seen articles about 5 UC or CSU schools considering adding football. Perhaps this might be the time. They could stay in the Big West for most sports and become football only in the WAC. Perhaps not, this is California we are talking about.

CA just cut $500M from the UC system and $500M from the CSU system. Sure schools might be “talking” about football, but no way in hell any of the school admin even get serious about doling out the cash needed to start a program. Even if private funds could be raised to cover the start-up costs, I don’t see how the school admins can find the millions needed for the annual budget for a football program.

[EWURanger]

How about Utah Valley State? Anyone know if the BSC has been in contact with them? They'd have to start football, of course, but it seems they'd be a good fit geographically.

Fullerton should get these jerkies on the phone and get them in there.

[Screamin_Eagle174]

How about Utah Valley State? Anyone know if the BSC has been in contact with them? They'd have to start football, of course, but it seems they'd be a good fit geographically.

Fullerton should get these jerkies on the phone and get them in there.

It'd be like throwing a lamb to a pack of wolves.



















I approve.

[EWURanger]

They'd struggle for a while, but wouldn't be massively different than what ODU or GSU are doing with the CAA.

I wonder if they have a stadium.

[eaglesfootball]

utah valley does not have a football stadium on campus. Pretty big obstacle to overcome. They do have a nice basketball arena and a cool baseball stadium, though.

[SloStang]

utah valley does not have a football stadium on campus. Pretty big obstacle to overcome. They do have a nice basketball arena and a cool baseball stadium, though.

I believe that the plan is to make the baseball stadium a multi-purpose stadium and football would play there.

[JBB]

With football Utah Valley would be a good addition to the BSC. The GWC couldnt get a foothold so the BSC is all there is out west, at least until some D2s start to get ambitious.

[SloStang]

With football Utah Valley would be a good addition to the BSC. The GWC couldnt get a foothold so the BSC is all there is out west, at least until some D2s start to get ambitious.

JBB, you would like their Basketball Arena. 8,500 seats. Not 10,000, but more than 6,500.

[JBB]

Thats a nice arena. Utah is one of the fastest growing states in this once great country of ours. Much bigger school than NDSU too. Not as broad in its offerings but very successful in its mission.

[EWURanger]

Reference UVSU, looked into it....

Like I said, cool baseball stadium, but hard to see how they could turn this into Football use.

Gotta be one of the better backdrops for any stadium, though.

[SloStang]

Reference UVSU, looked into it....

Like I said, cool baseball stadium, but hard to see how they could turn this into Football use.

Gotta be one of the better backdrops for any stadium, though.

I guess you never been to a game at Portland State. Extend the stands down the 3rd base line. That would be the home sideline. It is unbalanced, but workable.

[Mike Johnson]

I guess you never been to a game at Portland State. Extend the stands down the 3rd base line. That would be the home sideline. It is unbalanced, but workable.

When they announced the plans for the baseball stadium, you could just fit a football field inside the dimensions of the field. The sideline has to been off the 3rd base line a bit because of fence in the outfield, but it can fit. The stands would then cover about half of one endzone and maybe to the 40 along a line parallel to the 3rd base line. Berm seating is available for the rest of that side. The field would run east-west, so there might be some sun issues. But, I remember thinking that they might just be designing it to allow football in the future. I wondered if bleachers could be put along the south side of the field.

When I attended an Orem Owlz game in the stadium last summer, it looked like it wouldn't fit after all. One of the far corners didn't look as I remembered the design.

As for whether UVU could be supported in football--it is a question I have thought long about and I don't have a good answer. In many ways, UVU has potential advantages over both Weber State and Southern Utah--larger school population and thus potentially more money from student athletics fees. Utah County, with over a half a million people is one of the fastest growing counties in the country. It has a vibrant business base. There are 16 3A to 5A high schools playing football in the county and another in neighboring Wasatch County that UVU serves.

But, then there is the 500-pound gorilla--BYU five miles down University Parkway. BYU takes a lot of potential athletics donations from inside the county and inside the state. With a choice, most county residents would choose to attend a BYU football game than a UVU football game.

Then there is the question about whether a state the size of Utah can support 3 FBS and 3 FCS football programs. Looking at similar sized states, we have Iowa and Arkansas each with 2 FBS and 2 FCS, Kansas and Nevada with 2 FBS, and Mississippi with 3 FBS and 3 FCS. That Mississippi has that level is encouraging, but clearly that is a lot and possibly too many for a state that size to support. On the other hand, BYU probably gets more than half its support from outside the state these days.

Another factor, which I have thought about is the lack of lower level programs in Utah. There are only 2 non-NCAA Division I 4-year colleges in Utah (Dixie State in NCAA Division II and Westminster in the NAIA and only Dixie State has a football team). Iowa has 2 FBS and 2 FCS. Over the past several years, I have thought that a Utah-Iowa match up would be a good game, so would a Utah State-Iowa State match up, and a Weber State-Northern Iowa match up. Sagarin rankings over the past several years back up this statement. I am not saying that the Utah teams would win, but they would be competitive games and if played over time would feature wins by schools in both states. Southern Utah would probably defeat Drake. Iowa also has a Division II school in Upper Iowa and I have no idea how Dixie State and Upper Iowa would compare on the field. But, Iowa has 28 other 4-year private schools in NCAA Division III, the NAIA, and the NCCAA and 20 of them play football. The total revenues and expenses for these schools is about twice that of BYU. There are two Iowa non-football NAIA schools with budgets comparable to Westminster. The 20 football programs have football revenues and expenses higher than BYU and overall budgets totaling a lot more than BYU. So, instead of one large consolidated private school with football in Utah, Iowa has 20 small programs that collectively are larger from a financial point of view. So, the strange thought has been recurring for me--could UVU successfully launch a football program in part because of virtually no competition from below?

Several years ago the president of the then UVSC stated that UVSC would have football, but not until after completion of the transition to Division I and conversion to university status. Both have occurred. That president is now the commissioner of higher education in the state. It remains to be seen whether they can afford football. They would need to either build a stadium (perhaps on the soccer field) or adapt the baseball stadium. If they did start up football, it would not surprise me if they tried to get into the Pioneer League with San Diego and Drake and several others to the east.

[AZGrizFan]

LA is closer (and easier to get to) than Fargo.

LA is closer to where? Fargo is 300 miles closer to Missoula than LA is. If you're talking about the rest of the conference, it's not even close (except for UNC).

Well, it's not the Montana schools that really have an issue with UND, as they're now basically centrally located in the conference.

Now, if I were UCD, Cal Poly or PSU....

[Fresno St. Alum]

There are really no options in D-II right now. If combined all the GNAC and RMAC.
C.Washington is the best school. They don't have the money to move up. If you want to wait 8 years, there would be a school in D-II(if they decide to apply for D-II) that would much rather be D-I and could afford it since they have 40,000 students. That school is British Columbia. They'd have to wait 8 years because under the new rule a school must be a full D-II member for 5 years before applying to D-I. Plus you have the 3 year D-II candidate/provisional period.

[Mike Johnson]

Also, the NCAA rule about Canadian schools is that they can only be Division II for the first ten years. After the ten year trial, the NCAA will evaluate if it will change that rule. I am not sure if it applies to UBC hockey, but since that team is full of junior major players, the team will be devastated if it joins the NCAA.

I'll help out one of our Sac State fans with this one: don't forget Colorado Mines. And who knows what Grand Canyon will end up doing.

[dbackjon]

Also, the NCAA rule about Canadian schools is that they can only be Division II for the first ten years. After the ten year trial, the NCAA will evaluate if it will change that rule. I am not sure if it applies to UBC hockey, but since that team is full of junior major players, the team will be devastated if it joins the NCAA.

I'll help out one of our Sac State fans with this one: don't forget Colorado Mines. And who knows what Grand Canyon will end up doing.

Mines and GCU are candidates for the Big 12.

[Mike Johnson]

There are too many BCS conferences that can't count. The Big Ten has demonstrated that for years. The Big 12 may yet figure out how to count.

[Fresno St. Alum]

GCU said they were dropping Men's Lax because in D-I Men's Lax isn't big in the west and they want to be D-I. Ummm okay how do you guys plan on getting an invite? Is the GWC 5 that's not a conf. allowed to invite members. Umm No. All my sarcasm is intended for GCU and not the good members of this board that mentioned GCU.

[Fresno St. Alum]

Also, the NCAA rule about Canadian schools is that they can only be Division II for the first ten years. After the ten year trial, the NCAA will evaluate if it will change that rule. I am not sure if it applies to UBC hockey, but since that team is full of junior major players, the team will be devastated if it joins the NCAA.

I'll help out one of our Sac State fans with this one: don't forget Colorado Mines. And who knows what Grand Canyon will end up doing.

Colorado Mines wanting D-I? This is a new development that's news to me. If you're basing it on SH and no real info, then S.Utah will be in the Mountain West in 2012

[Wildcat Ryan]

UVU has expressed interest in joining the Big Sky before, if they are serious about creating football then the Big Sky should sign them up.

[EWURanger]

I'm wondering how much of this is UVSU just paying lip service and how committed they really are to get into the Big Sky. Starting up football, even at the FCS level is no small feat, especially considering they don't have a venue to play in at the moment. I noticed they have a very large student body....are they more of a commuter type school, or do they have a sizable on-campus population?

FWIW, rumors are that the Big Sky might be holding out for a "bigger" school.

Bottom line, I think finding that 14th member is all going to hinge upon what happens with the WAC.